The NEW Vanguard! Kyoko Issue 1 "The Enemy of My Enemy..."

"Thank you. You've done a good thing today, though I hope you never find out why. If you can trust me, don't tell them why I'm here." Alex casts a meaningful glance at the elevator door, looks back at the woman for a moment and then takes off again, moving surprisingly quietly for his speed. He heads directly for the stairwell and then the third floor!

(( Short response, but I'm only covering a couple seconds of time is the impression I'm getting. If there's time, a Infl/Aura check to try and convince her to not rat me out, or at least not say where Im going. If not then best available foot speed to the stairwell, from there we can use flight to get between the floors faster (and without footsteps).  So long as there's nothing else interrupting me I'll make straight for the Drawing Room.))

The astonished woman opens her mouth to reply, only to gape at the receding form of the fellow who'd just spoken to her!

She blinked, and looked around. Had she imagined it? How could anyone move so fast? Should she say something, and what would she say?

=========

"What?" said the man as he was about to round the corner. "Fast. I'll give him that."

He concentrated, formed the image of a sigil in his mind, and focussed his thoughts on the third verse of an ancient rhyme written in a long dead tongue. Then he vanished!

=========

"Now what?" spluttered the third person of import in our tale...

He glanced about, smiled, and vanished!

=========

A nagging suspicion that someone, or something, was tailing him continued to put Alex on high alert.

He looked down the long corridor and heard the sounds of laughter from the Drawing room at the end where double doors constantly opened and closed as people came and went.

Alex started towards the room and paused. What was...?

From a side door in front of him a tall man stepped out, who was well built, grey at the temples and ruggedly handsome. His suit looked expensive and the man himself unruffled, but his eyes were narrowed. "Who in the blazes are you? You're lit up like a bloody beacon!"

Alex was about to answer when he turned...

And saw the same fellow step around the corner some 20 feet away. He looked identical, right down to the frown, and stopped. "What in the...?" he muttered as he saw Alex, then 'himself' stood twenty feet behind him. Fifty feet down the corridor the revellers in the drawing room laughed at another joke unaware of the drama unfolding outside...

Alex's sure stride towards what he assumed to be the Drawing room came up short when he was cut off from a side room. The same man appearing directly behind him added an additional level of complexity. He could clearly discern magical auras, and the second either ment he could create duplicates of himself, or something even more complicating such as time travel or a third party imitating him was involved. None of those options was exactly pleasent. Still..

"Who I am is a sensitive issue.. especially considering you seem to be having an identity crisis of your own." Alex looks between the two duplicates and shakes his head. "I can tell you that I'm here to speak to Justin St. Johns at the suggestion of.. a mutual friend in white. I'm not fond of being cryptic about this kind of thing. Considering the situation here though, and that my friend is limited in how much he can actively do.. You'll have to accept that." Alex was hoping that this was St. Johns, on the not unlikely chance this wasn't however he was perfectly capable of defending himself. Preferably he wouldn't have to blow his cover to do so however.

The three men looked at one another.

It was almost a mexican standoff, though with Alex caught in the middle! His magic sense told him that both men had magical auras, though one was more powerful than the other by quite some margin.

"Mutual friend in white?" muttered the man behind. "Who...?"

"Ha! That proves he's the imposter! I know you speak of the White Warlock! It's time to sort this out once and for all! I don't know who either of you are, but if you'd like to step aside young man I'll show this bounder what I think of people who make themselves up to look like me!" said the man in front of Alex, the one with the 'brighter' (more powerful) magical aura.

He started to stride towards Alex but veered slightly to walk past him. Behind, the fellow stood his ground and muttered, almost too quiet to hear "Thought I'd left all this bloody nonsense behind when I jacked it in... Still, comes with the territory I suppose..." He rolled his neck, spat in each hands and formed loose fists, dropping into a crouching boxers stance.

OOC The two St John fellows will be at hand to hand range in moments - let them scrap it out, and possibly lose any chance of separating the two, or intervene before they can have at it?

With little in the way of time to make a decision, Alex steps aside to allow the two men to close with each other. While they may be identical the difference in aura would allow him to tell them apart.

Not that he intended to let them do anything that could confuse the matter of course. While the two St. Johns closed with each other, Alex extracted Stormbreaker from the sports bag he had slung over his shoulder, dropped the bag, and dropped the blade down between the two of them just before they could begin to exchange blows.

“Sorry, but no. I need you intact. Whichever one of you is you that is. For all I know you-“ He nods to the one with the larger aura “-read his mind to get that answer as he thought of it. So why don’t we go somewhere private and sort out your differences.”

His tone, and the sword, left it clear that he wasn’t just making a friendly suggestion.

Actions: Key up my defensive powers (which is really just skin armor from the sword right now.), then make my ‘suggestion’. Full force on the Infl/Aura action for that. Unless something cuts me off, then appropriate defensive actions will be in order.

One of the St Johns paused for a moment. "Hold on a second. Who ARE you?" he asked.

The other 'St John' took that as an excuse to deliver a jarring headbutt to the man in front of him, sending him staggering back!

"Who cares who he is? It won't matter for you in a moment, imposter!" declared the aggressor.

The man who'd been struck turned to Alex. "Hit him. Honestly I don't have time for this! My head just started bloody pounding, and I haven't heard that for a long time! It means there's bother, and whether I like it or not..." he took up a defensive stance as the other 'him' threw a flurry of punches that he ducked and batted aside, though had to give ground every moment. "...the land will drag me away. Damn. Things MUST be bad somewhere..."

"Yes, HERE!" said the St John in front of him as he slapped his hands together to create a 'thunder clap' effect!

It tossed the other St John off his feet and the man who had the brighter aura (and who'd delivered that 'clap' and the previous headbutt) turned to Alex. "That's an interesting sword, son. That fraud can't fight for toffee, which proves I'm the real me. in addition all that mumbo jumbo about his head pounding? He's trying to throw you off. But I do need to know what you want with me. Put the sword away and we'll talk..."

The other, floored man called out as he struggled to his feet some twenty feet away. "Don't! It's a trick! I..."

Then he vanished!

The remaining St John seemed annoyed, then smiled. "Bloody nuisance. Good riddance to him, for now. Now then. The sword, and we'll talk."

Justin St Johns aura was powerful, pulsing and seemed to be growing more powerful.

Alex's decision was quick, his response came as lightening.

"You Brits really like your heroes to be tied to the well being of your land don’t you?” His voice carries over the deafening crash of thunder that followed the blast of lightening from the sword. His time was short, and he had every reason to suspect that whichever of the two ‘St.Johns’ that wasn’t legitimate was playing for the other side. Right now it looked like the one who was still here was the best candidate for it. The other one had been more worried with resolving the issue rather then clearing up his own identity. To Alex that meant he had no uncertainty about his identity. He’d have to sort out where he went to after dealing with whoever or whatever he was stuck with.
He drops into a fighting stance in order to deal with whatever response came his way.


Dice: Lightening attack against the remaining ‘St. John’ at 12/14.
Assuming I’m taking the Initiative because I’m striking first, I’ll be pressing the attack for -1OV to him and to myself. If somehow I have another round of action available from getting a surprise round and then taking Init again, I’ll attempt to grapple him and fly out the window and up. I don’t want to get into a full out super brawl inside of a building packed full of civilians. That’ll look like this:

Dice: Grapple attempt
Move: Flight 8 to get out a window and up in the air where supersonic speeds will be safe to use.

The member 'dunecat' has done the following action : d10

#1 'd10' : 5

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#2 'd10' : 9

Whoops, didn't mean to roll those. Still I like the result! 14 isn't bad at all.

OOC Will use the roll you cooked up but I generally don't bother with the forum dice roller because it's untidy (at best) and ugly at worse with multiple rolls.

'Justin St Johns' gasped as his form was lit up...

The shot struck home, lighting up the corridor and arcing to the lights and sockets, plunging the building into darkness all of a sudden!

Alex saw arcing electricity dance about the form in front of him... The man didn't go down though. Instead he straightened, popped his neck with a loud CRICK! and chuckled. "These human forms are so fragile. Call on eldritch power, enhance them, use them... and they are worn out almost as quick as they are used. Like... like a match, don't you think? Strike it, then snuffed out moments later?"

Alex made ready to grapple the figure, but he saw something else. A red glowing aura surrounded the charred man and started to fade, leaving a charred body which clattered to the floor in its wake!

Alex was in no doubts that he'd come up against a demon possessed human... As the lights flickered overhead he knelt by the body and felt for a pulse. Nothing. The smell of cooked flesh filled the corridor and shouts of confusion and anger rang out in the building. Alex figured that the Demon had come to kill the real Justin St Johns and that he had, unwittingly, saved the mans life by interfering. An innocent had been killed though. It was hard to tell if it was a mans or womans body in front of him.

Áinle Ó Riáin spoke in Alexs' mind "The victim was dead as soon as they made a demonic pact to act as a host... By offering their form in return for power, influence, riches, their soul was damned, their life forfeit and measured in hours. Only in this way can this kind of summoned demon travel so freely abroad without a magical totem or talisman to act as a barrier against those things harmful to Demons such as daylight, holy places and wards."

Shouts and running footsteps suggested he'd have company soon.

The spirit spoke on "There *may* be a way to track, or at least find the rough general destination of the Earl. If you have time to conduct a reading of the scene with your ability to sense magic. It is not exact, merely a trick I learned that might or might not work. You determine the magical direction of the summoning spell as was used in this case, and determine the strength of the summons. Then you will need a map."

Alex was stood over a charred body in a damaged corridor with flickering lights and the smell of cooked flesh! People would assume he had something to do with it, especially as he held a huge sword in his hand! That said, this was possibly a way to find out where St Johns had gone, and if he was right, the Earl needed his help!

Alex reacts quickly (unlike his player) to the proposed prompt and sheaths Stormbringer again, then places it inside of the sports bag he has for that exact purpose. Then he kneels down next to the body and opens himself to the ebb and flow of magic. "I don't have a map on hand, will I be able to get my hands on one later?"

(Sorry for the delay, completely my bad.)

Alex concentrates and tries to detect the strength of the magic used and in doing so, glean some idea of the direction and distance travelled by the Earl...

OOC Magic Sense, with the detect Strength option. Strictly speaking not a usual use of the power but it's a (slim) chance of finding something out in this instance. It's not going to be easy so you might want to use HP. I'll let you decide how many you'll be using but in the meantime...

"Hold it right there!" shouted a decisive voice behind Alex as he knelt down. "Don't move! The police are on their way, but we have our own methods of dealing with intruders... "

Alex heard the click CLICK of a shotgun being cocked and though his back was turned, figured it was pointing at close range directly at his back!

"Now stand... slowly! Hands up!" said the voice.

OOC Just decide on HP usage and you might (or might not) get a clue as to where the Earl has gone.

((Alas, I don't have any HP yet. You haven't given me any. ))

Alex remains where he is, focusing. He does however take a moment to trigger the one spell he has learned and retained. The effect was a massive explosion of illusory glowing purple chains that passed out through the walls to bind around anyone within its reach!

---

Mystic Binding (or restraint.. or whichever the name is. mystic attack to reduce dex to 0. No AV, Area of Effect so it's an attack at 11/9 vs anyone within 4 APs. At least I think it's 4 APs as the standard range)

After that I'll stick out the sense magic check and hope for a good roll.

OOC Ah right, need to finish this first issue off then you'll get your HP doled out Mystic Freeze : Roll 3+2 (5) Ugh. Still, that's good against 5-6 Influence and more than good enough against the rank and file of ordinary folk who frequent the club.

"What the... I.. I can't move!" spluttered the man behind Alex.

Alex gave his full attention to the task of sensing the magic power that had been used, before it faded completely. Normally this shouldn't work, so he figured he had nothing to lose, but it represented a slim chance of finding the real Earl.

OOC Roll 10+9 (19) Whaddya know?

Such power! An elemental force - that of the land itself - had summoned Justin St Johns, perhaps against his will! The power of the summons was such that even a master magus such as the White Warlock would struggle to block it. Never mind that! Concentrate! Power... direction... direction... West... and to the North a little... He needed a map now!

Alex looked about. The man with the gun - a waiter by the looks - was staring and quivering but unable to move. He wasn't sure how long he or the other people in this place would remain frozen, but it would be enough time to make good his exit.

OOC You just need a map from somewhere...

I knew there was a reason I got that power. Good ol goon/mook sweepers

Alex wipes some sweat from his brow and stands from where he had been kneeling next to the charred body. The amount of power used to pull St. Johns away was staggering. Still, he'd have to follow it if he wanted to get the mans help.

"Yea, that'll wear off in a little bit. Sorry to do it to you but guns tend to make people over confident." Turning, he strides over to the frozen man and disarms him before starting to search his pockets for a smart phone.

"I don't suppose you have a smartphone on you, or a map? That'll make life a lot easier on me and help me catch up with the one that did that." He nods at the charred body.

---

[color=blue] As mentioned, I'll search the guy for either a phone or map. If phone I'll use the built in map function (they almost always have them now days). If no luck either way I'll make my way out of the building and go hunting for the nearest convenience story that would have a map. I'll also make a change of cloths. No point flying around in plain cloths after all.

OOC Good thinking on the smartphone angle, one that hadn't sprung immediately to mind but works just as well as a map...

Alex fished through the fellows pockets while the man (and everyone else nearby) stood like statues...

Fortunately the phone wasn't locked, which would have taken extra time to sort out, and the map application fired up utilising the buildings Wifi.

"Now what?" muttered Alex as he stared at the GPS location showing London.

'Relax' said a female voice in his mind. Ainle?

Doing as he was bid he listened on. 'Place your finger on the contraption. I shouldna be surprised by th' black magic that makes such things work but still feels strange not to have a map furled out...' continued the voice. Alexs' fingers moved and he resisted the urge to open his eyes to see what was being done. Finally, after much flicking and scrolling, the voice said 'Open'.

Alex looked at the screen to see a mass of green, and a few welsh place names that meant little... though one was familiar. Site of the maximum security superhuman detention centre in Wales? Why would the Earl be summoned there? Was he a criminal and the land exacting justice on him?

OOC Int check...2d10 → [9,8] = (17) Good enough...

That didn't seem likely. More likely was that he was needed, which meant trouble at the prison! This coupled with the problems in the North East and dark sorcerous powers gathering meant things might go from bad to worse very quickly... indeed, even just thinking about this brought the Demonic Kaberaxus to mind. Deception, his forte, and convincing mortals to worship him through performing 'miracles'... Well superhumans could technically perform miracles anyway... unless they were incarcerated and their powers taken away somehow...

What if Kaberaxus were to free said superhumans, restoring their powers?

More worshippers. A superhuman army!

The pieces fell into place. Indeed, the plot seemed to reek of the Demons' hand! A glance at the map revealed a distance of over 175 miles as the crow flew. Alex looked about. These people would be frozen for a while yet. He took the opportunity to change clothes...

OOC Head straight there, or make another move of some kind?

I'll go there directly, at max speed. At 14 APs speed, pushing up to the top of the limit for it, I should be able to get there in under a minute.

The landscape, shrouded by darkness and driving rain, flashed past underneath Stormbreaker as he blasted through the sky...

Using his smartphone for direction he sped through the gloom and counted down the seconds. What would he find? What trouble was the Earl in? Would the man help him in his own quest to stop the Demons plan?

Just then, in the distance, Alex heard something else, even over the boom of thunder.

A supersonic boom!?!

A glance up, down... around... there was something approaching fast, either on the same route he was travelling... or heading for him!

OOC Alex is fast! But this, whatever it is, seems to be faster still...

Regardless of who or what may be coming either for good or ill Stormbreaker had only one direction to go, forwards. The only concession he makes for the potential of an oncoming attack is to rest a hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it if need be.

---

No real change in actions. Push ahead in the direction indicated at full speed riding the upper limit of his AP range. Probably fatiguing after a while but at 4 miles per second the 150 odd miles to get where he's going won't take long.

I will however say he's on alert for incoming dangers and is keeping an eye out for that.

There is a blur of motion as something speeds past him, above and to the right, before it's gone leaving a turbulent backwash of air!

Stormwarden relaxes the grip on his sword for now, but knows that whatever, or whoever that was, will arrive much sooner than he will!

In the distance through the pelting rain and gloom he can see other flying shapes. It looks like a small convoy of military helicopters though he's too far away to make out details. They hug the contours of the hills and speed towards the same location, and he's catching up fast.

Just then, from another direction, a blast of flame lights up the sky and engulfs the lead helicopter! It bursts into flames and the others peel away frantically as men scream and leap from the open doors like burning brands in the night!

The fire was of a magical origin...

A glance about reveals rolling hills, heather covered and sparse pine trees but...

OOC Roll 9+2 (11) The Magic Sense Strength check reveals a 'High' level of magic has been used

...there's someone... or something out there, and it had clearly been waiting to ambush the helicopters!

Stormwarden pinpoints it. Hidden under the cover of trees, the source of the magic attack! It's around half a mile away from his current location, at the very edge of his range, and the rain prevents him from seeing anything for more than a couple of hundred yards unless it's larger than man size.

The lead helicopter is about to crash. The others (five) have scattered and are fighting the controls to bring their vehicles about. Doubtless another attack will soon be on it's way!

Having been slowed only slightly by the turbulence of whoever it was that had passed him, Alex had only seconds to react. Thankfully it only took him seconds to do so.

Changing direction he rockets towards the descending helicopter, ripping Stormbreaker from it's sheath as he goes. Visibility might be poor but thankfully he could feel where the fire blast had originated from without seeing it and he loosed a bolt of lightening in that direction. Slamming the blade back into its sheath on the return motion he makes ready for what was to come next, catching them men who had jumped!

---

---

If I've got this right.. catching these guys should just be an Auto action, so I'll be doing this!

Auto1: 14 Aps of Flight
Dice: Lightening attack at 14/12 at the source of the magical fire attack
Auto2: Catching the jumpers

If I need dice to catch everybody then I'll use my dice action for that instead. Stormbreaker might not be all sunshine and bunnies, but he is on the heroic side of things after all. Even if there a fair bit of anti in his hero.

Peering through the gloom Stormbreaker took his best guess at the source of the attack which had taken the helicopter out....

Yanking the great magical sword free of its scabbard he levelled it, took aim... And heard a cry as he saw the tumbling of bodies spilling from the open side of the helicopter! The crew were bailing out in the faint hope they'd survive the fall rather than the crash!

He whipped his head bank, squinted through the driving rain and gloom and wondered even if he might have been able to strike his intended target, despite his incredible superhuman hand/eye coordination!

Stormbreaker peeled off and sped through the gloom, tearing at the wind and rain in his wake as he blasted towards the falling soldiers!

OOC Dice action required to catch the falling occupants of the Helicopter. I figure you'd try to catch as many as possible - Alex can see five falling crewmen and the Helicopter itself still has the pilot on board who is desperately trying to prevent the inevitable!

Multi Attack on five falling crewmen... I figure the falling speed is the OV/RV modified by number of targets, and of course he can cover the distance thanks to his terrific speed...

Roll 10+8 (18) Success.

FWOOOOSH!!!

Stormbreaker grabbed a crewman by the collar, swept another up in the crook of an arm, another onto the back of the other with a "WHOOOF!" of expelled air...

"Sorry"

SWOOOOSH!!! He swept low and tipped his 'baggage' into a deep looking mass of heather before zipping up again, fighting the driving weather that pelted him! Catching a wailing soldier by the ankle he looked about... and a higher pitched cry made him look up! At the last moment he moved the sword aside as a smaller, definitely feminine, form, landed in his arms! Hair trailed from the back of flight helmet but her pretty face gaped in astonishment only an inch or so from Stormbreakers...

Then she turned, as did the hero, and he saw the burning helicopter about to hit...

Just as he detected another discharge of magical energy from the hidden assailant, doubtless at another helicopter!

OOC Choices, choices... save the crashing helicopter, the other helicopter about to be roasted or attack the assailant, and find some way to dump these two off in a manner that doesn't leave them battered from a high speed fall?

Is the Helicopter going to fall down on the guys I just saved? If so I'll try to catch it. I'm not to hopeful that my 8 Str will be able to lift a chopper though. If it's not going to crush anyone then I'd like to try and use my lightening attack to intercept the fireball, sort of a magical parry or block maneuver.

OOC The helicopter isn't going to crush the guys you just saved, it only has the pilot still on board (the others bailed and Stormbreaker saved them) The shooting of another energy bolt type attack from the air is... ambitious. I reckon OV/RV would be opposing blast plus modifiers.

Dice Roll 2d10 → [8,1] = (9) Stormbreaker misses...

The attack however... 2d10 → [3,3] = (6) DOUBLE! plus 2d10 → [7,3] = (10) Strikes home.

Stormbreaker tries a desperate shot to intercept the bolt meant for the helicopter...

But it's too accurate, too fast, and slams into the side of the vehicle, pushing through it and thrusting a fiery blast out the other side...

The helicopter burns, spins, and tumbles towards the floor... And the one with the pilot fighting the controls smacks into the ground 50 yards or so from it...

The other helicopters regroup and start to come around. Stormbreaker knows the bloodthirsty swine behind this attack will strike at them - unless HE becomes the target!

OOC Both helicopters are down in this instance. The others will become targets soon unless Stormbreaker warns them off or takes out the attacker!

((I had thought the woman who jumped down and Alex caught was the pilot. Alas.. also, I do like being ambitious about stuff. I didn't really have time to put them down, then intercept the shot, and I couldn't very well take the hit while carrying two normals. Option A was throw a lightening bolt and option B was throwing the sword. I don't really like that last idea though so.. lightening bolt it was.))

With lives already lost to this barrage of fireballs Alex wasn't about to leave whoever this was throwing them around standing. Swooping down to a reasonably safe height he looks at the woman he had caught seeing as she would be the easiest to talk to with the weather conditions.

"You need to get in touch with the other choppers! Tell them to get as much height and distance as they can from here as soon as possible!" With that, he unceremoniously drops her and the other fellow the eight or so feet down to the ground onto something reasonably soft looking and then rockets off for where he was feeling the source of the magical assault.

Diving in Stormbreaker wastes no time with words, aiming as best as possible for a disabling slash right off the get go.

---

Auto: Flight
Auto: Sense magic - just to know where I'm going
Dice: Melee attack at 14/15, pressing the attack if I have Initiative for -1OV to myself and my opponent. Nothing else fancy for the moment though, need to feel out the situation a bit better.

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If I can't find this guy I'll use my dice action to interpose myself between the next fireball and it's target. Much as that's going to suck